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The matrix of futility is revisited in this tediously complex sci-fi movie, more a screensaver than an actual film. This is a third installment to the original movie Tron from 1982, a movie that was groundbreaking and boldly pioneering for its day in a way that escapes this one and its forerunner Tron: Legacy from the previous decade. Tron: Ares nearly comes to life just once – when Evan Peters' character gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson portraying his mother, in an old-fashioned bit of analogue reality. This is a piece of tough love you might feel like administering to every producer involved in this movie, and it's sad to see the respected Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so lifeless.

Plot Overview of Tron: Ares

The situation now is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger Corp has become a competitor to the VR company Encom Inc, originally set up in the 80s arcade-game era by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (initially founded by Encom executive Ed Dillinger, played by David Warner) is headed by the founder's annoyingly geeky grandson Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to design and create profitable things such as indestructible soldiers and tanks in the virtual reality grid and then export them into the real world using a kind of 3D printer.

The issue is that no matter how intimidating, these creations crumble into dust after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has discovered the plot-driving “permanence code” which can maintain these entities permanently, and even stores it on her person on a very low-tech flashdrive. So the ghastly Julian Dillinger deploys his enforcer on her: Ares the warrior, the humanoid uber-warrior which can exit the virtual realm for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of robots, is beginning to show signs of disobeying what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith plays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena's role and poor Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in wise white robes, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton.

Acting and Roles Breakdown

Moreover, Ares – the protagonist of the film's name – is acted by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and subtly omniscient grin, touches that were perhaps created by inputting the words “incredibly irritating” into an artificial intelligence character generator. Nobody who recalls the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life will ever find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Mr Leto, and I was incidentally very entertained by his broad (and widely misinterpreted) comic turn in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Leto is unremittingly, persistently awful here, although his performance isn't aided by a limp plot point which is supposed to allow him to display glimpses of “empathy” for Eve Kim's role and delegate all the badass wickedness to Athena's character, thus making her marginally more interesting. It is supposed to be adorable when Ares says how he loves 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode are superior to Mozart's compositions.

Series Features and Overall Impact

And in keeping with the franchise identity of the series, there are motorbikes from the VR netherworld which whizz about the environment in linear paths, adhering to the angular layout of antique arcade games (or even dance clubs); one even emits a death ray which slices a police vehicle in half. But there is zero tension or jeopardy or emotional engagement anywhere. This series currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.